Layaway coming back

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Customers who don't want to go into debt shopping for Christmas gifts are choosing layaway, a budget-conscious way to pay for things that started in the Great Depression.

Sears is bringing back its layaway program two decades after it was scrapped.

Sears Holdings, owner of Kmart stores, has also seen a strong response to the pay-as-you-go plan at its Kmart locations.

Burlington Coat Factory is seeing a resurgence for its layaway program, too.

"We're seeing a big increase in layaway this year," said Lisa Bjergmose, store manager of a Burlington Coat Factory location in Topeka. "We're seeing people coming in for the first time putting items on layaway."

Coats, clothing and baby furniture were filling up a layaway storage room in the basement of Burlington Coat Factory.

"We had to double our holding capacity for layaway," Bjergmose said.

As of Wednesday, there were 180 layaways at Burlington Coat Factory, compared with a total of 201 during the past holiday season, so store officials are gearing up for a larger layaway season.

Layaway offers time to make the payments, although Christmas is only five weeks away.

Every store policy is different, but essentially they require a down payment upon layaway and the balance due when you pick it up.

Say you want to buy a new washing machine before Christmas that costs $600, but you only have $150 to spend this week. You pick out the washer you want, put down a $150 deposit, and the store sets it aside for you.

Then, you send regular payments each week or month until you have paid for the washer, and you go pick it up.

Kathy Grannis, spokesperson for the National Retail Federation, said consumers in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s would purchase items using layaway. But when credit became more accessible, consumers would borrow the money instead of using layaway.